TheArtof COLLECTING

EDWARD HOPPER (1882-1967), Road and Trees, 1962, oil on canvas, 34 x 60 in., Collection Daniel W. Dietrich II

HEN THE EMERSON GALLERY first inspired while they were students on College Hill. With for this project is that the current generation of Hamil - Daniel W. Dietrich II ’64 celebrated its 20th anniversary this spring pieces by such renowned artists as George Bellows, Winslow ton students will be inspired to appreciate the rewards EDWARD HOPPER’S Road and Trees, with the exhibition Hamilton Collects Homer, Edward Hopper and Norman Rockwell, the exhibi - of living with art and work to accumulate the intellec - amazing to say, returned to Hamilton for this exhibition. It was here long ago American Art, not one, but two collections tion offered a fresh look at the history of American art and its tual and creative tools necessary to embark on a collect- in 1964 at the Root Art Center among W a group of Hopper oils, watercolors and emerged — a collection of rarely seen paint - role in shaping our national identity. ing career.” etchings all assembled on loan in a major ings by prominent artists and an equally compelling collec - “The drive to collect is probably as much a genetic disposi - Prior to the exhibition’s opening, lenders were invited show. Upstairs and downstairs through - tion of stories reflecting the exploration and discovery processes tion as blue eyes or premature graying, but the collector’s focus to share their thoughts about the works they loaned, the out the center’s lovely rooms was a wide of the collectors themselves. and the skills he or she brings to the enterprise are products of formative influence of their Hamilton experiences and array of work to explore, and it was required of the art history students to The exhibition included 62 works from 30 Hamilton lenders, personal environment and education,” noted William Salzillo, what they have learned from friends and family about choose a Hopper and write about it. many of them alumni whose love and appreciation of art was acting gallery director and professor of art. “One of our hopes collecting. Here are excerpts from just a few: (Images may be viewed at www.hamilton.edu/gallery/hamiltoncollects ) DAN DIETRICH

HAMILTON ALUMNI REVIEW 28 SUMMER 2002 HAMILTON ALUMNI REVIEW 29 SUMMER 2002 I did my paper on some classic, forthright Stephen and Mary Craven P’99 painting well inside the mainstream of his art. No fool I. But it was this Road and Trees I kept COLLECTING ART is like studying history. Art circling back to. It was not yet two-years-old, tells a story; our collection tells the story of and had a scrubbed and unabashed — even America from 1900-1950. We started collecting raw — look. It seemed oddly thin and nearly when we were first married. Stephen had a love without consequence, like a cartoon. Com - for art, having majored in painting in college, paring it at that time to the great Second Story and I had a love for shopping. It was a perfect Sunlight of 1960 (oh, just down this hall, and match that has sustained us for 30 years. one room over!), Road and Trees looked oddly In the first years we couldn’t afford sig - curdled and dissonant and slightly sour and nificant pieces, but loved visiting the galleries somewhat empty. Missing were the Hopper and learning all we could. Our first major regulars, his usual stalwarts — the totemic, acquisition forced us to eat macaroni for four stunned people; the white clapboard façade months in order to pay for the painting. We cut on the bias by that Hopper sunlight; the would forgo vacations and dinners out just hard-won balance wherein a highway or a mass ALFRED THOMPSON BRICHER (1837-1908), The Return of the Yacht, Scituate Glades, 1879, oil on canvas, so we could acquire another painting. We read of trees might just play a supporting role in the 17 1/2 x 38 1/2 in., Collection Adrienne Ruger Conzelman about art, visited galleries and poured over drama. Usually the Hopper road served to take auction catalogs. us in, by diagonal, to the upstage action. Typ - proudly hangs in my New York City apart - As the years passed an actual collection ically Hopper trees gave distance and space to ment opposite a Capri scene by Charles Caryl started to take shape. We limited our acquisi - some scene, which might otherwise atrophy, of Coleman. tions to American oil paintings from the first unbudging, too-solid, airless, rhetoric. Weren’t Until last year, my interest in art was mainly half of the 20th century. We began, in the early his trees his great aerating device? His sparingly restricted to the 19th century, despite a secret ’70s, by buying American Impressionist paint - applied grace notes of poetry? passion for Rothko, Diebenkorn, Franken - ings. These were affordable then and the later In 1962, the year of Road and Trees, Hopper thaler and others of their ilk. Perhaps my par - work was very difficult to find. was 80-years-old. One or two new pictures sur - ents’ and grandparents’ tastes hindered me in I have a love for William Glackens’ work; faced each year. To find a subject for big work some way from pursuing the more avant-garde I already had acquired two of his paintings JOHN SLOAN (1871-1951), Dogtown Common, 1930, oil on canvas, 20 x 24 in., Collection Stephen and Mary Craven had become very difficult and to paint at all was aesthetics of post-war art. While at Hamilton when the beach scene became available. It is physically challenging. He would create just five I did explore the theories behind Wyndham thought to depict a Cape Ann scene near our quality works. While easily rec - more pictures before his death in May 1967. Lewis’ Vorticism and the sexual innuendoes of summer home in Rockport. One of my hus - ognizable as having been ADRIENNE RUGER CONZELMAN Road and Trees is almost three feet high and Georgia O’Keeffe’s calla lilies; however, I did band’s favorite artists is John Sloan. He would painted by Sloan, it is not what a full five feet in length. In its shallow space, a not delve any further into the 20th century. love to do an entire room with his paintings. one first thinks of when con - narrow road and trees run together across the Thinking back, I doubt that a course on post- He even named our son Sloan! Dogtown Com - sidering the artist’s work. Less whole canvas. Seen straight on, without begin - Adrienne Ruger Conzelman ’92 war art was offered, but even if there was, I mon was done while Sloan was in Gloucester, predictable works are more ning or end visible, it seems Hopper has cho - HAVING BEEN RAISED by art and antiques dare say I would have skipped it and pursued again near our summer home. It is a power - challenging. They enliven a sen a segment of a whole running frieze as his enthusiasts and having been exposed to my the more time-tested subjects of Greek and ful piece and could hold its own with other col lection and, like non-con - subject to paint. Perhaps this is the middle of grandparents’ esteemed collection of paint - Roman art, Islamic art, Neoclassicism, Roman - forming children, are appreci - the flow. There is no defining incident to focus ings, I developed a taste for and a keen inter - ticism and Impressionism. ated more with time. on. Along this continuum, he will paint exactly est in American art at a young age. I enrolled Now with two small children and a third on In addition to Sloan and here. Why here? Why are we here? at Hamilton with the unusual insight of know - the way, my preferences in art run toward the Glackens, we like Kenneth It has been, of course, a great joy to puzzle ing what I wanted to study — not just vaguely, minimal and the simplified, representing per - Hayes Miller and his students, over Road and Trees these now 35 years. I once but exactly. After majoring in art history at haps a quest for peace and quiet in an other - Robert Henri and his students, did ask the most evolved painter I ever knew, Hamilton, I earned a master’s degree in art his - wise chaotic world. I have long dreamed of the Steiglitz Group — I could Warren Hohrer, why this painting wouldn’t tory with a specialization in American art at Rothkos and Frankenthalers, and now as an go on and on. Before we acquire WILLIAM GLACKENS (1870-1938), At the Beach, ca. 1919, oil on canvas, resolve, come clean, settle down. His thought Williams and then worked as a specialist in adult with endless responsibilities and con - a particular piece, we research 10 x 14 in., Collection Stephen and Mary Craven was that whatever question Hopper painted American paintings at Christie’s. cerns, those color-field abstractions are even the artist. I enjoy learning about Road and Trees to answer, he left there at the Despite the profound loss of my beloved more appealing. As the still-growing popu - the little idiosyncrasies of each finish. Warren said, “He didn’t paint out the grandmother, who incidentally also served as larity of these stars of the 20th century drives artist as it makes the person come alive to me. Now, 30 years later, we are still collecting. question.” So, one could say Hopper poses some an inspirational mentor, I was delighted to their values skyward, I have turned my atten - Generally, we prefer visiting galleries to muse - Our paintings fill two homes, and there are still question, and it is still hovering, unanswered, receive this Alfred Thompson Bricher paint - tion to the lesser-known artists working dur - ums. Gallery owners are a tremendous source canvases stacked on the floor. We periodically in this very moment, in his Road and Trees. It ing, which I had so long admired in her South - ing the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s and the young of information, happy to relay any knowledge rearrange the paintings to make them seem is right down there, or here, somewhere, even port, Conn., home. Depicting a quiet summer emerging artists beginning to gain some atten - of the artist or painting, whereas many muse - “new” and have recently started to acquire some now causing a stir. The question, it would day on Massachusetts’ south shore, Return of tion in New York today. A pleasant surprise has ums are often too formal for us. I learn much sculptural pieces and decorative works. I think appear, is smack-dab everywhere along this the Yacht, Scituate Glades represents a brief been the compatibility resulting from the sub - more at a gallery. I can get as close as I want a true collector never has a complete collection. place where Hopper took a fancy to paint a interest of Bricher in incorporating figures ject matter and palette of my cherished Bricher and ask as many questions as I desire, often There is such fun in the hunt. We would love to no-name location, which contains an ever- into his otherwise undisturbed seascapes. with those of the more contemporary works STEVE AND too, seeing preliminary studies or alternate find a wonderful Marin oil or a Hartley or a MARY CRAVEN extending view. Quintessentially Victorian, the painting now in my collection. versions of a piece. Kuhn circus painting. But there is the fun.

HAMILTON ALUMNI REVIEW 30 SUMMER 2002 HAMILTON ALUMNI REVIEW 31 SUMMER 2002 Louise A. and J. William Holland ’59

DURING THE 1930S Norman Rockwell lived in New Rochelle, N.Y., and was a customer at my father’s drug store, the Beechmont Phar - macy. My father and Rockwell became friends, and Dad would, from time to time, provide him with props for his paintings. One in particular that I remember was his pharmacy license, some test tubes, beakers and flasks that appeared on a Post cover in 1939 involving a rather rumpled pharmacist com - pounding some syrup for a little girl. Rock - well had said he would give the pharmacist painting to my Dad, but it was either destroyed in a studio fire or asked for by one of the peo - ple at Curtis Publishing. Norman felt badly about this and resolved to give my father the Barbershop Quartet which he said was a bet - ter painting since it contained four and not two figures. WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910), How Many Eggs?, I remember him visiting our house to deliver 1873, watercolor, 12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in., Collection Karen A. the painting and explaining some of its com - and Kevin W. Kennedy position to my parents. He said that render - ing hands is a most difficult task. The detail is quite extraordinary including items one might say are throw-aways, such as the cloth on the floor, the cracked shoes and the comb with missing teeth, the diagonal line from the upper right brush to the lower left razor handle and the extensive use of triangles in spaces between the figures. My dad tells me that the short fellow on the left was actually a barber in New Rochelle. The taller figure next to him was a policeman; the third, a fireman; and the seated man, an artist friend of Rockwell’s named Walter Beech Humphries, who later painted a portrait of NORMAN ROCKWELL (1894-1978), Barbershop Quartet, 1936, oil on canvas, 36 x 27 in., Collection Mr. and Mrs. J. my mother. William Holland

BILL AND LOUISE HOLLAND Rockwell has been criticized feel, an allegory for harmony and hangs in the by many art critics as being dining room of our house, a room where, we CHARLES BURCHFIELD (1893-1967), Dandelion Seed Heads and the Moon, (1961), 1965, watercolor, nothing but an illustrator who feel, harmony is important. KEVIN AND KAREN KENNEDY pro duced work solely for repro - 54 3/4 x 38 1/2 in., Collection Karen A. and Kevin W. Kennedy duction. It is, of course, true that Karen A. and Kevin W. Kennedy ’70 much of his work is illustration, others, but it was only in the last few years that Over the years, my wife and I have enjoyed My wife and I have somewhat different tastes. but much of it is also art. One I DEVELOPED AN INTEREST in art as an under - my wife and I have been active collectors. the museums in New York where we live She prefers figurative art, which I enjoy, but she proponent of Rockwell has sug - graduate at Hamilton. Recognizing the limi - While my parents were not collectors, they including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is less enthusiastic about the more abstract gested that with his work “what tations of my artistic aptitude and abilities, enjoyed art and encouraged my interest. My The Museum of Modern Art and the Whit - works that are attractive to me. We have com - you see is what you get.” His pic - choosing art as a major was one of the great aunt was very interested in art, and her father ney Museum of American Art. The museums promised on some works by Marin, Stuart Davis tures tell a story which requires privileges of a liberal arts education. I studied was one of the founders of the Albright-Knox of Paris, particularly the Musée d’Orsay and and Max Weber that appeal to both of us. no interpretation or intermedi - studio art with James Penney and art history Museum in Buffalo, and my cousin is an active the Musée national des Arts Asiatiques- We collect because we enjoy having art in ation, so the art critic is not with Paul Parker. Through Paul Parker, I was board member there today. While I was influ - Guimet, are familiar haunts, as is the Museo our home for our pleasure and for our fam - needed, and therefore, they den - exposed to American artists like Homer, Marin, enced by my cousin and my aunt, Paul Parker del Prado in Madrid. The Munson-Williams- ily and friends. We are happy to lend our art igrate him for all the good trade Burchfield, Hartley, Glackens and Shinn. After and James Penney were the most powerful Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, N.Y., was an for museum shows, and the Winslow Homer union reasons. I subscribe to this college while working on Wall Street, I main - influences on the development of my inter - important part of my education when I was watercolor, How Many Eggs?, in this exhibi - later theory. The painting is, I tained my interest in these artists and many est in art. an undergraduate. tion has just returned from a year-long Homer

HAMILTON ALUMNI REVIEW 32 SUMMER 2002 HAMILTON ALUMNI REVIEW 33 SUMMER 2002 retrospective that began in Kansas City and traveled to Los Angeles and Atlanta. It is very satisfying to share some of our paintings with the Hamilton community and to participate in this exhibition with other members of the Hamilton family.

Keith S. Wellin ’50 I’VE NEVER CONSIDERED MYSELF to be a col - lector. I simply buy a painting when I see one that I like. I don’t haunt galleries, but I do walk around galleries when I am in New York, and if something catches my eye, I buy it. The artwork I own is eclectic.Among the paint - ings I own, Segovia Girl is the only painting that I did not purchase. I inherited the painting from my father, who was a great admirer of Robert Henri. He loved the painting. My father worked his way through school by sketching, although he did not pursue art professionally after gradua - tion. Segovia Girl hangs over the fireplace in my apartment in New York and has always been very special to me.

ROBERT HENRI (1865-1929), Segovia Girl, 1912, oil on canvas, 20 x 24 in., Collection Keith S. Wellin

As a son of the Reverend Grant Selch ’28, widely known as “the puppeteering parson,” I THOMAS SULLY (1783-1872), The Misses Coleman, 1844, oil on canvas, 28 1/4 x 35 1/4 in., Collection Patricia Bakwin and Frederick Richard Selch was exposed to a style of collecting connected primarily to his activities as a latter-day Their library boasted the great illustrated works Pat purchased her first painting at the age and paintings related to early American cul - Geppetto and producer of amateur theatricals. of Rouault, Derain and Shahn, and the hallways of 18, a Vlaminck, when her family was vis - ture. Now we have more than 40 American Our house was filled with every kind of col - and staircases were lined with the sculpture of iting that artist’s studio. Later when we mar - paintings and drawings ranging from those KEITH WELLIN lectable thing in the world, and everything we Renoir, Degas and Matisse. ried we started collecting together: our first of leading professional painters like Charles ever brought there was intended to be used as As a family the Bakwins traveled to Europe joint selection was a small Renoir oil, Head Bird King and John Vanderlyn, to works by a prop, a stage decoration or a costume for every summer visiting and talking to the living of Gabriel. It is still our favorite painting. the naïve folk artists Joseph Whiting Stock Patricia Bakwin and either his human or his doll players. But to him artists they collected, as well as the major col - After that, while living in Europe in the late and Ammi Phillips. Most of these are housed Frederick Richard Selch P’79,88 I guess I owe my more controlled habit of col - lectors, dealers and scholars. In time their chil - ’50s and early ’60s, we started buying works in an 1802 Georgian-Palladian mansion in lecting the materials — musical instruments, dren came to understand that the main purpose by the then-popular “School of Paris” — Sharon Springs, N.Y., that we have recently AMONG THE MANY HAPPY DISCOVERIES that books and prints — related to my obsessive of collecting was to acquire beautiful items to Jansem, Minaux, Aispiri and the like. Upon restored to its original Federal splendor. But Pat and I made when we married nearly 50 years study of music history. decorate the home and to achieve an under - our return to America we added more paint - there are still more in our New York house. ago was that we both liked gardening and chil - Pat’s parents were prominent NewYork pedi - standing of what the artist had intended to ings by some of our personal friends, Don Nice Our enthusiasm goes on and on. Our quest dren. Another was that we both liked to collect. atricians and collected famously the paintings, impart with his work. This was a philosophy and Xavier De Calletay, but did not begin for American art, antiques and books in the Frankly, our shared love of collecting was in our sculpture and art books of the French Impres - very different from that of many of the well- consciously collecting Americans as such until last decade has drastically reinvigorated our blood, since both our families collected actively. sionists and Post-Impressionists. Their public known collectors of the time who seemingly the early 1990s. interest in collecting in general and added to rooms were filled with eye-boggling canvases However, the type of collecting of the two fam - PAT BAKWIN AND ERIC SELCH collected only with an eye for fame, market This shift was influenced by our other col - our knowledge and interest in American cul - ilies was very different. by Cézanne,Van Gogh, Modigliani and the like. value and popularity. lection, the musical instruments, books, prints ture and history.

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